EgyptAir crash: Body part, seats, luggage found in Mediterranean

Wreckage of the EgyptAir flight that went from missing to crashed in a day, was found with passengers’ belongings

Cairo: Egyptian military scouring the Mediteranean Sea yesterday found the wreckage of the crashed EgyptAir aircraft, a day after the ill-fated plane en route to Cairo from Paris went down with 66 people on board, with authorities hinting at a terror angle to the deadly incident.

The Imam of al Thawrah Mosque, Samir Abdel Bary, condoles film director Osman Abu Laban, who lost 4 relatives in the crash. Pic/AP

“Egyptian aircraft and navy vessels have found personal belongings of passengers and parts of the wreckage 290 kilometres north of Alexandria,” Brigadier General MohamedSamir said on his Facebook page.

The search crew found a body part, seats and one or more items of luggage yesterday, Greece’s defence minister Panos Kammenos said. “A few hours earlier we were informed (by Egyptian authorities) that a body part, two seats and one or more items of luggage where found in the search area,” Kammeno said.

False reportThe military searchers had intensified their search for the missing EgyptAir Flight MS804 after earlier reports that its wreckage had been found turned out to be false.

There were no signs of survivors after the Airbus A320 “swerved and then plunged” into the Mediterranean. The plane, on its fifth journey of the day, was travelling at 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar. It had made a stop in Tunisia before flying to Paris. The plane was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew: two cockpit crew, five cabin crew and three security personnel.

EgyptAir said two babies and one child were on board.

Those missing...>> Richard Osman, a 40-year-old Briton, was “deliriously happy” after the birth of his daughter. A geologist, Osman had become a father for the second time just three weeks back and was going to meet his newborn in Paris.>> Pascal Hess, a Frenchman, nearly didn’t catch the EgyptAir flight because he had lost his passport. “He had not slept for three days, until someone found it in the street,” a friend said.>> A student, who hailed from Chad, was training at a French military school and was heading home to mourn his mother. The protocol officer for Chad’s embassy in Paris, Muhammed Allamine, said he “was going to give condolence to his family”.>> Another Egyptian passenger was returning home after receiving medical treatment in France>> The director of Procter and Gamble in Amiens, Ahmed Helal, is also among the missing>> Pilots: The flight captain was 36-year-old Mohamed Said Aly Aly Shakeer with 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 flying hours on an Airbus 320, the same model as flight MS804. Co-pilot Mohamed Ahmed Mamdouh Ahmed Assem (24), had 2,766 flying hours.